For the final announcement of thematic strands at Virtual SciDataCon 2021, we would like to draw your attention to a set of sessions exploring strategic issues and new directions for CODATA and WDS, the two data organisations of the International Science Council that organise SciDataCon.
The end point of this strand and the concluding session of the conference is a session looking at ‘Organisational Interoperability’ and global collaboration for the ISC CODATA Decadal Programme ‘Making Data Work for Global Grand Challenges’. This strand also includes sessions organised by regional members of CODATA and WDS in the Asia and Pacific region and a session organised by the CODATA India National Committee. We will also hear about activities in a range of CODATA National Committees and engagement with the Decadal Programme.
Open-Science addressing Collaboration of CODATA and WDS Communities in Asia-Oceania Area, Tuesday 26 October, 07:00-08:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
In the Asia-Oceania area, various activities on data have been performed mainly by WDS and CODATA because this area is highly important in terms of global aspects of environmental and socio-economic issues. On the other hand, the construction of a collaborative network on data under the WDS and the CODATA is still in an under-development stage. Many current CODATA Task Groups (e.g. agriculture data, disaster data, data preservation, improving data access) have a close connection with regional activities. Since the principal members of WDS are research-data repositories mainly operated by academic institutions, e.g. universities, the principal subjects of its activity have been weighted to bottom-up and reinforce collaborative infrastructure in the Asia-Oceania area. A collaboration of WDS and CODATA will be particularly important to expand our activity to involve both academic and social communities to establish a collaborative network on data under the Open-Science and FAIR principles. The session will consists of several ignition/lightning talks and structured discussion to initiate collaborative actions of CODATA and WDS on data issue in the Asia-Oceania area.
Research Data and FAIR Data Framework in the Context of India’s STIP2021: The Way Forward, Tuesday 26 October, 11:00-12:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
In India, a draft version of the 5th national Science Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) was released in January 2021 for public consultation. This policy instrument includes the provision of open research data from the public-funded research and education. Additionally, UNESCO released the draft version of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, to be adopted by the Member States in November 2021. As a member country, India is also a party to the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science and will have to implement the set of recommendations therein. In this context, the current session will explore the challenges and opportunities in implementing the Research Data and FAIR Data Framework in the country. The panelists will look into the open research data aspects at the institutional, funders’, and national level in order to meet the national and international norms and obligations in collaborative research.
International data issues perspectives from the CODATA National Committees – Stories from various countries and how they relate to international issues and the CODATA Decadal Programme, Tuesday 26 October, 13:00-14:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
CODATA is the Committee on Data of the International Science Council (ISC). CODATA exists to promote global collaboration to improve the availability and usability of data for all areas of research. Its mission is to connect data and people to advance science and improve our world. It draws its membership from a network of 18 member countries, 32 international science unions and 4 institutional organizations. CODATA National Members meet in a monthly forum to facilitate the sharing of experiences and information among countries, to discuss updates from CODATA (International) and to identify opportunities for members to participate with each locally or globally. This session will feature short presentations by several countries to demonstrate the diversity and the richness of national activities as well as some of the challenges faced by individual countries, and highlight the state of play of scientific data among countries and how the priorities and approaches vary widely from country to country. Each presenter will also discuss how their national activities feed into and/or support the work and objectives of international activities such as those of CODATA and the Decadal Program.
Organisational Interoperability is Critical for Data Interoperability and Virtual SciDataCon Closing Session, Thursday 28 October, 11:00-13:00 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
The CODATA Decadal Programme ‘Data for the Planet: making data work for cross-domain grand challenges’ addresses part of the ISC Strategy and Action Plan. As part of the Decadal Programme , CODATA has committed to: “… work with other international data organisations and their groups (RDA Working Groups and GO FAIR Implementation Networks), with cross-domain programmes and research initiatives, with the organisations and communities that create metadata specifications and terminologies, with International Scientific Unions and other stakeholders to enable an ecosystem for FAIR data for cross domain research to be developed and implemented.” In this session, we seek to identify, discuss, and develop approaches and incentives to address known or perceived barriers to global participation, with a particular emphasis on initiatives at the organisational level. The intended outcome of the session is a set of agreed areas of action to facilitate engagement with the Decadal Programme.
The session will be followed by short closing reflections and discussions on the Virtual SciDataCon 2021 Conference.
Virtual SciDataCon 2021 is organised by CODATA and the World Data System, the two data organisations of the International Science Council – PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE – FULL PROGRAMME – please note that registration is free, but participants must register for each session they wish to attend.
CODATA and WDS are very grateful to SpringerNature for sponsorship of Virtual SciDataCon 2021. This sponsorship has assisted us in running the conference without a cost-recovery access charge, for which we are extremely grateful.